Jedi Serenity
by JayCee's RedGold
Summary: Already on the run with two fugitives, the crew of the Serenity rescue some stranded passengers who are either completely insane or Jedi from another galaxy whose journey into their universe did not go unnoticed. - On Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

**Title:**Jedi Serenity  
**Genre:** Crossover, Humor, Action, Romance, Angst  
**Characters:** Luke, Mara, Corran, Tionne, Kam and the Crew of Serenity (Mal, Inara, Wash, Zoe, Kaylee, Jayne, Simon, River, Book)

**Summary:** On their way to the planet Persephone the crew of the Serenity come across a damaged ship and rescue the otherworldly passengers. Already on the run from the Alliance with two known fugitives on board, Captain Reynolds decides to up the ante and help the stranded Jedi whose journey into their universe did not go unnoticed. The Jedi, the Force now seemingly mute to them, have to rely on a band of misfit thieves to find a way home, but perhaps the Force is not as absence as they thought.

**Note:** This is my first non-Star Wars fan fic but it's a cross-over so there you go. It was inspired by Darth_Marrs on the Jedi Council Forums who makes doing cross-overs look easy.

**Chapter One **

"_Go-se_," Jayne kicked the unopened crate and it skidded a few inches across the deck of the _Serenity_. "See, this is exactly why we shouldn't be dealing with Badger."

"If I remember correctly," Wash tilted his head almost laughingly, "you where the one who said we should take the job."

"Yeah," the mercenary tossed the sling of his automatic weapon over his broad shoulder, "your point is?"

The pilot rolled his eyes and leaned back against the grated stairwell that led to the upper part of the cargo hold of the Firefly class ship. Simon, the ships medic, and Kaylee, the mechanic, were standing behind him on the stairs having come to see how the latest caper had gone. Sheppard Book was absent, his turn at cooking midday meal, though he was never to keen on the crew's less than legal activities.

River, Simon's younger sister, was lying across one of the catwalks overlooking the hold, staring down at them.

"Sir," Zoe, the second in command, ignored the barbs between the two men and addressed the captain, "the goods were where Badger said they would be. It isn't our fault that the manifest was wrong."

Captain Malcolm Reynolds was crouched in front of the opened second container, staring down at three hundred ballerina dolls. He turned one over in his hand, "Don't think he'll be seeing it that way."

"You think he'll try to back out, sir?" she asked him, though he knew the woman was smart enough to have figured it out herself already.

"Uh, let's see," Jayne interjected, "when has that piece of _luh-suh_ not tried to hump us out of our take?"

"I think they're cute," Kaylee smiled, then again she was always smiling.

"Cute don't put rutting money in my hand," Jayne shot back.

More words were exchanged, Mal ignored them for the most part. The way it is, is the way it is, and at the moment the way was paved with ballerina bolls.

"_Wei_," he silenced his bickering crew members before he stood to face them. "Badger fancies himself a business man, I'm sure he can find something shiny to do with these, make some kind of profit."

"And us?" Jayne pointed his finger angrily in the captains face, "what about our profit?"

"You gonna point something at me, Jayne, best be a weapon," Mal didn't hesitate in his words, "and any profit is better than no profit, lest you can think of someone else we can unload these to?"

An eerie quietness fell over the area as everyone averted their eyes, knowing that the captain was right, the captain was always right, especially when he was wrong.

"She forgot how to dance," the voice was soft but boomed in the silence, every head tilting up to see River leaning over the catwalk, eyes transfixed on the dolls, "she used to love to dance, but now she's a broken doll, thrown in a box with other dolls, forgetting how to dance."

The crew simply shook their heads and went on about storing the cargo, setting a course for Persephone. As it where, that was one of the least crazy things the young fugitive had said… this week...

***

As the crew went about their routine, Simon watched as his younger sister walked down from the catwalk lightly, every step seemingly done intently, as if she had to think about even such mundane of movement. Every day that went by where he couldn't figure out how to help River, a bit of seemed to die inside.

He was the older brother, he should have protected her. Instead he encouraged her to go to 'the Academy' or whatever it was. They said she would learn, be challenged like the genius child she was, but instead they cut into her brain, cutting her amygdala so that she was forced to feel everything that happened to her, everything around her.

And he gave up everything to get her back.

River picked up one of the dolls before Jayne had a chance to put the lid on the container.

"Hey, moonbrain!" the mercenary shouted but she turned away, walking back across the hold to the open area.

"Jayne," Mal called out, waving his hand in a 'just let it go' gesture.

One doll wasn't worth getting into a fight over, especially since it was recently learned that River could be terrifyingly efficient at death… she only needed to do the math. The scary part being that she didn't really understand what she had done that day, what it had meant, and perhaps that was for the best. Her psyche was fragile enough as it was.

Slowly River began to twirl like a ballerina, lifting up on one foot, arms raised in a pirouette. River had loved to dance when she was young, and she was a creature of extraordinary grace, still is. But Simon wondered why she danced now, was it to enjoy the movement, or to distract from the voices?

He thought he heard her whisper, "He should ask her to dance…"

***

"Got word from Inara," Wash mentioned to Zoe as he heard her boots clank on the metal floor of the cockpit. "Seems she's got a full docket, Mal said we'll be staying on Persephone a few days then, you know, if we're not having to run… screaming, possibly bleeding, but definitely whimpering."

Zoe chuckled, wrapping her arms around him to rest her head against his shoulder in his seated position, "Captain knows what he's doing, maybe we'll get a chance to rack up a few hours of R&R this trip."

"Did you ask his permission?" he replied dryly to his wife. Gods did he love that woman, but her unfaltering loyalty to Mal did often ire him. Of course, Zoe and Mal served together in the war, two of the few survivors of one of the bloodiest battles… the battle that many say lost the war for the Browncoats as the loss was so great.

He tried to understand that loyalty once, ended up being tortured by a psychopath for his trouble, but Mal had kept him sane, helped him to survive it. For that Wash would give the man the benefit of the doubt and a certain amount of loyalty and respect, but no, he probably never would truly understand what was between Zoe and Mal.

Didn't mean that he didn't get annoyed when conflict of interests arose and he questioned who would come first to Zoe, him or Mal.

"No," she answered softly, teasingly, "but I'll ask."

"Hhhmm?" he lost his train of thought, but kept just enough presence of mind to lock _Serenity_ into auto-pilot. He turned his seat and met his wife's lips, her slowly pulling him out of the pilot's chair.

"Think the ship could do without its pilot for a couple of hours?" she grinned at him.

"Well, you know," Wash shrugged, "probably crash into something, blow up in a fireball of, uh, fiery death."

"Fiery huh?" she kept him walking backwards towards the door.

"It'll be horrible," he kissed her again, "we'll all be dead but I'm sure they'll write beautiful poems to its tragic demise."

"You and your poems," She laughed again, and he loved that laugh, that grin.

Beeping filled the room and they both paused, her peering over his shoulder and him turning his neck to view the control board.

"You know, crashing after the coupling would have been preferred," he mumbled as he went back to the pilot's chair, hitting switches to bring up a view of whatever sounded the proximity warning.

"Everything okay?" his wife was back to her serious self in the face of possible danger.

"Think so," he slowed _Serenity_ down as he did a trajectory analyst of the other ship, downloading the transponder codes, "_Je shr shuh muh lan dong shi?_"

"I dunno, you tell me," Mal joined them in the cockpit.

"Unknown ship, about the size of _Serenity_," Wash filled him in, "just sitting there, dead in space, and it's registering as something, but the computer doesn't understand it."

"What do you mean, doesn't understand?"

"Just a bunch of random symbols," the pilot moved to the side so Mal could get a better look at the scroll on the screen.

Mal nodded, "Yeah, I'd call that random."

"Sir," Zoe was at one of the side stations, "looks like it's damaged, leaking atmo, but still has containment in the main bulk of the ship. The engines are giving out a very massive heat reading, could be ready to blow."

"Give me visual," the former soldier ordered, a horrible thought occurring to all of them at once.

Wash brought it up, the image small on the screen but they could make out the design of the ship, "What the guay is that?"

"I do not know," Mal replied, "you ever seen anything like that?"

"No," Wash answered truthfully, and he had seen a lot of ships, even ones taken over by Reavers and turned into flying palaces of death.

"Safe," the small voice startled them as it was habit to do.

All three of them turned to see River peeking her head through the door. Mal was the first to recover, "Safe? You sure?"

"Safe, for now, for us, for them… then boom," she disappeared down the short stairway that lead into the cockpit. Dancing as she ran into the kitchen.

They sat in silence for a moment, Wash finally finding his voice, "You know, it's even extra creepy when she does that and she's probably right."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two **

"Alright, you all know what's happening," Mal had gathered the crew members back into the cargo hold as him, Zoe, and Jayne put on their EVA suits. "We tried hailing the ship but got no answer. River seems to think there are people alive on board, and it's safe."

He had to add in the last part, the memories of the settler ship they found that the Reavers had attacked still a not to distant memory.

"So, we taking advice from the crazy girl now?" Jayne grumbled as he fastened his suit.

"The girl's a reader, I think we've all figured that one out already," the captain fastened his own suit, "anyway, the engine on the other ship is running hot, could be normal for her type, could be she's ready to blow. So we're going to go over, see what we see and decide from there."

"You think it's Alliance?" Wash asked, probably still as puzzled over the design of the ship as he was.

"Could be some kind of new Alliance craft," Mal grabbed his helmet, making a quick adjustment, "could be a privately owned one of a kind."

"That's a lot of could's," Simon commented.

"If there are people alive on board," Book interrupted, "we have to help them."

"We know how that turned out last time," Jayne picked up a smaller handgun rather than his usual fully automatic fare.

"Yes, well," Mal couldn't really argue, "we almost got a pretty good pay day out of that so let's keep optimistic shall we?"

"I should go, if they need help," Simon meekly interjected. Mal took the young man on as medic despite him being a fugitive because he was a brilliant doctor, but also because he was honest. Simon didn't hide the things that scared him and he still did what he had to do.

"Stay here for now," Mal decided, "if we got people need doctoring, we'll call for a doctor. Kaylee, keep an eye on the engine readings, let us know if anything changes."

"Will do, capt'n," her voice not quite as cheery as usual in light of the situation.

A few minutes later and they had a seal against the unknown ship. The design was odd, but ship docking hatches were one of the few universal constants in the galaxy.

The lights in the unknown ship were emergency only, a thin layer of haze drifting above their heads. There was noise, typical sounds of an engine trying its hardest to do something, but not sure what. The hull design was… different, almost like it came out of an old sci-fi movie on the Cortex.

"Breathable air, sir," Zoe had the atmo-reader out, "traces of chemicals and smoke but nothing that will kill us if we don't stay too long."

"Right," he answered through the helmet's comm unit, "but let's keep sealed for the moment till we find the bridge."

"Aye, sir," she replied and they headed in what they believed to be the direction of the bridge. Unless you were just trying to be funny, all ships of this size generally had the same layout.

As they approached an open area it was quickly recognized as a common room, a large table thrown to the side and units built into the wall. Two bodies lay sprawled on the floor. Jayne brought his weapon to bear as did Zoe.

Carefully, Mal leaned down to check the first, a male, broadly built like Jayne, with massive bruising and a gash across his head, though he was breathing, if only just. The other was a woman, long blonde hair matted across her face and she seemed to have fared better. Both where wearing the same style outfit, long brown robes which were now tattered and blood soaked, a long cylinder hanging from their belt.

"We got two," Mal called back to the ship over the comm, "unconscious, bleeding, but stable and alive. Tell Simon he'll have some patients after all, though we need to check the rest of the ship first."

It would do these two no better if they got themselves attacked by a Reaver or some other ungodly thing while they had their backs turned.

"Understood," Wash's voice came back. "And Kaylee reports no change in the engine readings."

"Good to know," he clicked the comm off then gestured for Zoe to take point down the hallway that represented the most logical choice.

Lying across the threshold of the cockpit door was another female, this one in what looked like combat fatigues, her hair braided back and jacket unzipped, a cylinder also attached at the belt. She had some bruising and a cut on her brow, but also looked stable. Jayne grabbed her under the arms to pull her into the hall out of the doorway, she moaned but then went still again.

"Got another," Mal sent to _Serenity_ as he scooted past. "Doesn't look like Reavers attacked, but they certainly took a hit from something."

The cockpit was a bit smaller than the Firefly's, the pilot's chair at point in the center, a man slumped in the seat. Another man sat slumped in the seat just behind and off center, perhaps a co-pilot or navigation chair? Neither seemed hurt, just passed out.

"EM or sonic pulse?" Zoe suggested as she kept an eye on Jayne.

"Might be," Mal leaned around the pilot, getting a look at the station, though most the screens and lights were out. "We can get Wash to take a look—"

The man in the pilot's chair grasped Mal's wrist, startling him and he heard his crewmates draw their weapons.

"Woah, friend," the captain gave his best non-aggressive tone, "you had some kind of accident, we just come to help you is all."

It took a moment for the blonde man to register the words, staring at him and blinking a few more times than usual. He turned his head and saw Zoe and Jayne with their guns drawn, Mal gestured for them to re-holster.

"Just gave us a bit of a fright," Mal explained, wondering if this was a private ship, maybe they'd get some type of reward for saving the occupants.

"Of course," the words were hoarse, and the accent odd, "thank you."

"Some of your friends are hurt," he politely removed his hand from the man's grip, "just about to get our doctor over here to help them."

The unknown man nodded, releasing his restraints to stand shakily, "Corran," he called out to the other who then began to stir at his name.

"Wash," Mal spoke to the comm, "tell Simon to grab his kit, Jayne will meet-"

"Mal!" the pilot's voice interrupted him, "River says boom!"

"What?" this was a point of panic, "Boom? When? Now?"

"She just says boom!" was the answer and he could hear someone almost singing the word in the background.

The pilot of the unknown ship heard the conversation and was pushing buttons on the console. His co-pilot regained consciousness, warily eyeing the rest of them, "Luke?"

"Core has been overheating, pressure building," his head shot up, "it's gone critical and containment is failing. It will blow any second now."

"Right," Mal was already moving, "Wash, be ready to fly far far away as soon as we're on board. We got incoming wounded," he turned to the two men, "No time for souvenirs, follow us."

They only gave each other a quick glance then moved from their seats, following him out into the hall. Zoe and Jayne had already started moving to the common area so that left the woman in front of him. Quickly Mal leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her up and over his own shoulder. Time was seriously lacking, no need to be neat and pretty about it.

Jayne had the big man over his shoulder, Zoe the blonde woman. The EVA suits may be a bit on the bulky side, but when you had the adrenaline running, it was surprising what you could do in them. There was also that powerful urge not to get blown up.

"Any more of you?" Mal asked the two men and they shook their heads no.

The ship shuddered.

"Containment's almost at failure point," the pilot said grimly.

"Then we best be moving a mite faster," the group rushed down the hall. Thankfully it was a small ship, streamlined, so very little in the way of stairs to trip them up.

Simon and Book greeted them at the hatch, the Sheppard quick to shut the bulkhead behind them.

"We're secure," Simon called up to Wash, then moved over to the man Jayne was holding. "Medbay."

"Kaylee," Wash's voice was heard over the ship's communications system, "I need full burn, now."

"Shiny, go," her voice answered back.

"Hold on," the pilot warned everyone and the ship shook as it shot away from the doomed ship.

There wasn't much for Mal to hold except the woman over his shoulder, so he held her tight and he braced himself as the ship shuddered.

"The other ship just blew," Wash spoke again, "but we're in the clear."

Taking a sigh of relief, Mal was about to walk towards the medbay where Jayne, Zoe and Book had already taken the other two when the female he was holding woke up. She thrashed violently and he lost his grip, dropping her forward, but instead of falling on her rear she caught herself and skidded back.

"Woah," he held his hands up, where all the people on that ship jumpy?

"_Nen utat jade_," the blonde man shouted out and the woman's eyes refocused onto her shipmate. It was now that Mal noticed she was a red-head with green eyes. Dangerous combination as that meant she'd fetch a high price on the market. Thankfully for her, Mal would do many things for a payday, but human trafficking was never one of them.

This thought was suddenly interrupted by the realization that he had no idea what language the man was speaking and the woman replying in.

"_Tua ben na-cogha?_" her words sounded like a question to Mal as he took his helmet off. "_Bocha ten ut force?_"

The blonde's eyes darted around, then he nodded solemnly, "_Ut force ten cochie, tua bien seta notcha._"

"Someone want to fill me in?" Mal asked as the female dropped her defensive stance then started to wither slightly, touching the wound on her head.

"My apologizes," the blonde pilot spoke, seemingly taking on the leadership roll, "we did not expect this, we don't even know where we are. It's a bit… unsettling."

"No worries," he smiled, trying to keep on the good side of the people. They didn't seem Alliance to him, the robes where a bit odd, maybe some religious order. A decent pay day might be just around the corner. "You're about a day's flight from Persephone, we are headed there now. Happy to give you a lift."

"_Puta tocha Persephone?_" the other man, Corran he thought was the name, spoke up in the strange language, "_Nen tua puta. Lauta force ten cochie?_"

"You know," Mal was always a cautious man and while he didn't expect trouble from them, something didn't sit right either, "you've been through a lot, and I got the best doc from here to Osiris working on your friend, so why don't you clean yourselves up, set your brains straight, then we can help you figure this out."

The dark haired man and the female looked to the pilot, who nodded, "Yes, thank you, we'd like to check on our friends first though."

"Of course, Kaylee," he called to the mechanic who had found her way into the hold, "show our guests to the medbay, then to the guest quarters."

"Shiny, cap'tn," she smiled at the three who probably found the short brunette with teddy-bear coveralls probably the least threatening of the people they had met so far. "This way."

They followed her out of the hold, walking past Jayne and Zoe who had returned, helmets in hand. Once they were sure the guests were out of ear shot, Zoe spoke first, "What do you think, sir?"

"Odd bunch," he said truthfully as he started to remove his suit, "they got this wild language that I've never heard."

"And what's with the robes?" Jayne was also busy removing his EVA suit, "only monks and hospital patients wear robes."

"If they are monks," Zoe added, "then maybe the Sheppard will recognize the congregation?"

"Possible," Mal was lost in his own thoughts, "there's something not right about 'em, can't really say what, let's just keep an eye on 'em."

"Safe," River's voice drifted from the catwalk above.

Mal looked up at her, "Safe, _mei-mei_, are we safe from them?"

"Yes," she answered softly, "but are they safe from us?"

"Now what's that supposed to mean?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Satisfied that Kam and Tionne where being well taken care of, even if it was through use of medical equipment they had never seen and with not a droid in sight, the three Jedi went to the offered guest quarters to clean up, but mostly, to talk.

/And I thought the _Falcon_ was the biggest hunk of junk in the galaxy,/ Jade commented dryly in Huttese. These strange people spoke Galactic Common, but apparently not the smugglers language taken from the Hutt's native tongue.

Luke was the first to realize something was off when he woke up back on the now exploded _Solar Ice_. He decided a secretive approach had to be taken to the situation for the time being and using a language that if overheard wouldn't be understood gave them an advantage as surely the captain was already suspicious.

/But of what galaxy?/ Corran pointed out. /We are the ones who had their ship hit by some weird energy at the barrier. The crew seems to think we are on the way to Persephone, a planet we've never heard of. And what kind of name is that for a planet anyway?/

Kaylee, a bit young and cheerful for a mechanic, had filled them in on who was who amongst the crew, first introducing them to Sheppard Book, the title apparently being typical of a holy man though they never heard of it before. She then rattled on about the ship after Luke made a small positive comment on the design. It was meant to just be polite, but they gained a lot of information about their surroundings through it.

The way that she talked, the words that she used, the places and companies she referenced, all of it was foreign to them. She didn't even recognize him, which didn't bother his ego, it was kind of nice actually since he could go almost nowhere in the galaxy without being noticed as one of the Heroes of the Rebellion. The crew also didn't recognize the Jedi's lightsabers either.

/How could we be in another galaxy?/ Jade gritted her teeth. /And why is Skywalker the only one able to feel the Force?/

Luke sighed, /I can feel the Force, but it's very muted, quiet, like music that is very far away and I'm only hearing the crescendos./

/So we're in the same universe, different galaxy?/ Corran asked.

/Possibly,/ he shrugged, /I don't know. I am closer to the Force than you two, perhaps that is why you feel like it's been cut off./

The former CorSec agent nodded, the man still a student, like Jade. /So what do we do?/

/I'm not sure about this crew,/ Jade paced in the small room. Of the three she seemed to be taking this the worse, he'd have to talk to her about it later, /The captain isn't stupid, and a bit too crafty, he's got at least one merc on his hire, and this ship just reeks of a smugglers haven./

/I noticed that too,/ Luke had to admit, /the crew is a bit motley, but the holy man was genuine, and that mechanic didn't seem like she could hurt a kitling./

/Just what kind of operation is he running here?/ the redhead shook her head and sat down on the bed.

/You should get that looked at,/ Luke gestured to the cleaned but still nasty looking gash on her forehead.

The woman shrugged, /Had worse./

There was a knock on the door, a manual sliding door at that, not an automatic door anywhere on the ship. Definitely an odd galaxy for its people to be out in space but not have droids or automatic anything it seemed.

"Yes?" Luke reached over and slid back the panel to see the Sheppard.

"We have some food prepared," he smiled warmly, "if you're hungry."

A glance at his students told him that food was a very good idea, whatever form this galaxy might have it as, "Thank you, that would be perfect, actually."

"Follow me to the dining area," the words were kindly and they easily accepted his offer, making their way to the common room. "We haven't got much, mostly protein rations but we had a few apples I made into sauce, some pickled beets and canned potatoes."

Protein rations they understood, after that, not so much.

"Very kind," the Jedi Master said politely as they entered the dining space, a long table stretched out with the food already sitting out, glasses filled with water and plates at the ready. He was about to ask the Sheppard something when he saw the doctor enter and turned to him instead. "How are they?"

"Stable, resting," the man nodded tiredly, "they got knocked around pretty badly, some internal bleeding, but nothing to serious, thankfully. I imagine a few hours sleep and they will regain consciousness, further rest and they'll be fine."

"Thank you," Luke smiled, what grasp he had on the Force telling him that in at least this aspect everything would be okay. He then suddenly felt a bit awkward as the crew filtered in and started to take seats at the table. "What time of day is this?"

"Gee," a man came in from the opposite side of the hall and by his weird floral shirt he guessed him to be the pilot, Wash, that was mentioned by Kaylee, "how long where you guys knocked out for?"

"That's a very good question," Jade mumbled next to him.

"Well," the captain entered in behind the pilot and made for the head of the table, "not much for clocks out here in the black, but we have our routine, and this here is evening meal."

"Of course," Luke understood that need for routine, and Leia's lessons in etiquette not forgotten, "thank you for letting us join your meal."

The captain gave him a funny look, "Not much for formality out here either."

"So sit already," the big man, Jayne, had already plopped down and was digging into the food, "making me nervous, standing there like statues."

They were quieter than normal, yes. Jade and Corran, usually two very vocal people now intent, watching every movement, their backgrounds put together giving them the training required to cover any possible event. But Luke knew they were also scared, because even if they didn't always know about the Force or used it… it had always been with them.

Nodding politely, Luke took a seat at the side of the table, Corran and Mara flanking him, the red-head taking the seat at the end. The Sheppard sat in the fourth seat on that side of the table, placing him next to the Captain. To Reynolds left was Zoe and Wash, a seemingly unlikely couple at first glance, though Luke had seen stranger. Across from him sat the merc, Jayne, with the doctor to his left. Kaylee had the other end of the table, next to Mara.

Taking a few sips of water he hadn't realized how thirsty he was and he used the time to see what foods the others were eating so as not to embarrass himself by getting something that actually wasn't edible. Corran was Corellian, therefore he could probably eat parts of the ship if he had to and the man was the first to risk it, getting a little bit of everything. Mara took a more careful approach, sticking with the familiar protein bars. He took a route in between.

Before they could start eating, the Sheppard spoke up, "A moment to say grace."

The three Jedi exchanged glances, wondering if something was expected of them, but most of the crew stopped eating and messing about, closing their eyes and bowing their heads, even a few pressing their hands together in prayer, except the captain who ignored them and kept eating. Unsure what to do, the Jedi simply paused.

Moments later the crew began to eat again, striking up conversations almost as if they weren't there.

"Where's River, Simon?" Kaylee asked to the doctor.

"Said she wasn't hungry," Simon, who Luke realized was cleaner and wore more stylish clothing than the rest of the crew making him stick out among the crowd, replied with a shrug. "I'll save some food back for her."

"She better not be making a mess of things," Jayne gruffed out between bites of bread.

"She's not," the doctor sighed as if this was an old argument, "she was playing with the doll."

Luke thought back to what Kaylee had said of the young woman: 'don't worry, she's harmless, mostly'.

"Got word from Inara," Wash added in, "said she'd meet us at the dock, she had to cancel her last appointment."

"Really," the captain replied a little too much disinterest.

"Said she'd explain later," the pilot shrugged, "but we'll be touching down tomorrow, mid-afternoon planet side."

"Good," Reynolds went back to his food, not bothering to look up when he spoke his next words, "So where do you three want to be dropped off at? We'll be hitting the Eavesdown Docks. Can get anywhere on Persephone from there."

It was a bait, not a very well disguised one either, but then it didn't have to be. So Luke simply told the truth. "We've never been to a planet called Persephone."

"Never been," Reynolds put his utensil's down as the table got quiet, "not that strange if you don't travel much outside the Core. Where do you hail from, friend."

"Tatooine," honesty never failed him before. "Though more recently Yavin IV."

"Never heard of 'em," he didn't bat an eye, keeping his gaze locked, "how about you Doc, you're from the Core."

"Um," the doctor uncomfortably cleared his throat, "I've never heard of them either."

"Anyone?" he asked to the table.

"If there is a bright center to the universe," a small female voice drifted into the room, "it is the planet farthest from."

Luke's jaw almost dropped at the words he hadn't spoken in a long time and turned to see a young woman, long brown hair, semi-tattered purple dress, almost hiding behind one of the pylons. "How did you…?"

"River," the doctor stood up quickly, walking over to her, "why don't you sit down."

Mara was giving him a piercing gaze next to him, /How did she know? Thought this was a different galaxy./

/I am sure it is,/ he used what grasp he had on the Force to read the girl, wondering if there were Jedi in this galaxy too, but all he felt was a highly intelligent, highly active mind.

/We better figure something out quick,/ Corran got his attention back to the table, everyone now staring at them and their strange language.

/We can't tell them we're from a different galaxy,/ Mara warned, /we don't know how they will react./

/We need to confirm we are in a different galaxy,/ the Corellian Jedi shot back. /That way we can start on finding a way home./

/Don't forget we got wounded in the medbay,/ the red head practically growled back.

"Stop it," Luke silenced his students, /All we can do is tell the truth, and trust in the Force./

"It's quiet," River spoke again as Simon sat her down in his chair, "that scares you, but it shouldn't," she looked straight at Mara, then Corran, "it hasn't abandoned you."

Captain Reynolds cleared his through, "Someone want to fill us in?"

"I will tell you, Captain," Luke almost sighed, "but I am afraid you will think us crazy, our situation not exactly standard."

This got a pretty hearty laugh out of the man, "Son, you have no idea…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

After everything that he had been through, especially since the Tam's came aboard his ship, there wasn't much that could surprise Mal these days. But the blonde stranger, Luke he called himself, actually managed to make him speechless with his next words.

"Essentially, we're aliens to this galaxy," he said the words distinctly so there was no misunderstanding, "we were at the edge of our own galaxy, something happened, and then we met up with you."

Wash was quickest to comprehend, "A different galaxy, you traveled across the black?"

"The black?" questioned the red-headed woman.

"You call your galactic barrier the black?" the foreign pilot added, "then yes, I guess we did."

"Wormhole?" Simon spoke up, "I know they're theoretical."

"Observed gravitational attraction between masses results from the warping of space and time by those masses," River answered her brother in her usual mono-tone. "Gravity is technically theoretical."

"They don't look like no aliens," this came from Jayne.

"And how many aliens you seen?" Wash retorted.

The mercenary turned on Wash, "They look human!"

"Why shouldn't all God's creatures look the same," the Sheppard interjected.

Simon raised his hand as he sometimes did when he wanted to speak, "Their physiology does not differ from our own on a general level."

"_Wei_," he silenced his crew, having a chance to consider what was before him and addressed the three. "Now, as you can see, we're not exactly strangers to the incredible, but besides the big one here we're not easily fooled neither."

"Yeah," Jayne agreed with him, then paused, "wha?"

"You could be telling the truth, that you're aliens," Mal ignored the hired gun, "but could be that you're spinning a tale. Excuse us that we don't just take your word for it being the former."

"I understand," the leader replied with a sigh, "but I don't know how we can prove it to you other than we know nothing of this galaxy, many of your places and words foreign to us."

"Speak English mighty-fine," Jayne had one of his rare intelligent thoughts.

"English? Oh, Galactic Common is what we call it," the man nodded in thought. "Strange though, yes, that it would be the same here."

Zoe voiced herself for the first time, "What where you speaking earlier then?"

"Huttese," the man blushed, "native tongue of the Hutts, it's also the language of smugglers. Please forgive our wariness earlier, as I said, this is a strange situation for us to be in."

"Smuggler language, huh?" Mal had to grin at that, "so what were you smuggling?"

"We weren't smuggling anything," he furrowed his brow, "it's just a common second language in the Outer Rim."

"Outer Rim," things were matching up a bit too easily, "got a Core too I bet."

"Yes," he nodded, "that is where our government, the Alliance, resides."

"Alliance, huh," he almost laughed, seeing his pay day go out the airlock unless there was some kind of reward for a bunch of escaped loonies.

"He's not taking us seriously," the darker haired man, Corran, spoke up.

"I noticed," Luke gave the man a look.

"No one taking farmboy here seriously about being an alien from another galaxy," the red head, didn't catch her name, laughed, "imagine that."

"Mara," he admonished her, "we can't just lie, that will gain us nothing."

She rolled her eyes at him, "You'll be rethinking that when they lock us up in some sithspawn asylum."

"War's over," River smiled at them, "you don't have to fight anymore."

"You don't know what you're talking about," the woman shot a hard glare at the younger girl.

No, that made perfect sense, if these were soldiers from the Unification War, he'd seen men go mad with what they had to endure. Could be a bunch of them flocked together and that was what he was looking at, so Mal decided a different approach. "She's right, the war is over, Alliance won, no need to be thinking about it anymore."

Of course the hypocrisy of that statement would register to the crew, but these strangers didn't have to know that.

Mara now set her hardened eyes on him and he was familiar with what he saw there, of someone who had been to hell and back, and he was man enough to admit it unnerved him a bit. "You don't have to believe us, but patronize us again and I swear by the Emperor's black bones I will end you."

"Jade!" Luke snapped at her, "We are guests here and that is not how a Jedi acts."

"Jedi?" she angrily laughed the word, "How can we be Jedi without the Force and don't spout the code and some nonsensical drivel about faith to me."

The dark haired man glanced around at all of them, "Mara, this might not be the best time to get into this."

"Shut up, CorSec," she spat at him then turned back to Luke, "I trusted you. Now look where we are. Cut off from the Force, from everything, with a bunch of thieves and sith knows what else with no hope of getting back."

"This is getting good," Jayne grinned, leaning forward, and Mal had to admit that it was pretty entertaining, even if he didn't understand some of the words.

"I'm sorry," the blue-eyed leader said softly, "I know how much this must hurt but you still need to trust me. We will get through this, we will get home."

"Home," her laugh was one of defeat, "funny how you keep destroying my home out from under me… and I keep letting you."

"Mara…"

She stood up sharply from the table, Mal's hand automatically dropping to his holster, but all she did was glare down at her fellow 'alien'. "Go to kessle, Skywalker."

With that, the woman stormed off out of the common area.

"What just happened?" Wash asked.

"On it, sir," Zoe replied before Mal could even ask her to keep an eye on the woman. Zoe kissed her husband on the cheek quickly before following the firebrand out.

"I have to apologize," Luke said with a sigh, "but it's been difficult for Mara even before all this."

"You don't say," Mal shook his head, going back to his dinner. He'd contact Inara after he ate, see if she could locate if these guys had actually been locked up. They could use the Companion as a front to return them if any reward was available. If not, well, Persephone was a good a place as any to dump them.

"Perhaps," Sheppard turned to the two strangers, "I could speak with the young woman. If she's having a crisis of faith."

"Noble thought," Corran patted the man on the shoulder, "but Mara's psychosis is one best left to those who won't look at her like she's a mental patient."

"All God's creatures are unique and special," the holy man explained, "and should be treated as thus, and no one is saying that you are mental patients."

"The captain is," the dark haired stranger shook his head and took a few sips of water, his words registering after a moment.

Mal cleared his throat, "Now I never said you were mental patients."

"You didn't have to," the man shrugged.

"They are speaking the truth," River started to get agitated, her arms beginning to flail as if she was trying to grasp the very words she was speaking, "aliens, their war, lost in the woods, no one hearing them scream for help but me."

"River," Simon grabbed her arms gently, trying to calm her down.

"Am I hearing this right?" Jayne glanced between River and Mal, "Moonbrain here thinks these folk are really aliens?"

Mal considered that for a second, the girl was psychic, but possibly also psychotic. However, "Seems she does."

Luke spoke up sadly, "I thank you all again for helping us, we owe you our lives, but I do not believe we can repay you as we have no means of payment and only the clothes on our backs."

"What about those fancy things on your belt?" Jayne chimed in with a mouth full of protein bar.

This question caused the man to visibly stiffen, "They are symbols of our order, worthless to you."

"Your order?" Mal asked, "That Jedi thing you were arguing about?"

"Yes," he nodded in all seriousness, "we are members of the Jedi Order, I am a Jedi Knight, as are the two in your medbay. Corran and Mara are students."

Jayne snorted, "Sounds like you got discipline problems."

"Mara has… special circumstances."

"If she don't want to be a Jedi," Kaylee finally added her two cents to the conversation, "then why make her?"

"I'm not making her," he assured the mechanic.

Mal tilted his head and gave the man a bit of a smirk, "Didn't look like it to me."

"Being a Jedi," Luke paused, choosing his words, "it's not about faith or a life-choice, being born with the ability to touch the Force, it's a part of who you are. You don't choose to have it, only how you wield it."

"The Force?" now that was the silliest name for a god he had heard in a long time.


End file.
